Company History
OSPREY LONDON is the principal brand name of GRAEME ELLISDON Ltd, the independently owned luxury leather, lifestyle and retail company.
Our story begins in 1980 with a belt, handcut and handstitched in a hayloft in Hertfordshire that the then 25 year old Graeme Ellisdon had rented for just £2 a week. Having invested £500 of his own money into launching his fledgling brand, OSPREY LONDON quickly became all the rage with the UK's leading retailers and both rock and real royalty snapping up his beautiful handcrafted leather belts.
Foreseeing that fashion's focus was sure to move away from the waist, Graeme used his love of leather and traditional skills to create the first of many gorgeous and practical bags and small leather goods for men and women, earning OSPREY LONDON a worldwide reputation as an affordable luxury leather brand with a spirited take on British style.
Today, OSPREY LONDON products are made by highly skilled craftsmen in the UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal and India, working to Graeme & Alex Ellisdon's design briefs. No matter where each product is made, it then undergoes rigorous quality control checks at the company's UK headquarters to ensure it is worthy of the OSPREY LONDON name.
ONLINE
Having always envisaged OSPREY LONDON as a lifestyle brand, today’s online collection not only continues to grow with seasonal new injections of leather bags and accessories, but also to diversify with the successful introduction scarves, silk ties, clothing, a home fragrance range, precious jewellery, gifting and sunglasses. However, our online store is just the tip of the iceberg and to experience all that the brand has to offer, pay a visit to one of our stores.
LIFESTYLE STORE
With an innovative approach to retail, in 2002 the company opened OSPREY HOME, the exciting contemporary lifestyle store in a picturesque rural location outside St Albans. Today the location houses one of the brand’s sixteen outlet stores while OSPREY HOME showcases not only branded leather accessories, clothing and gifting but also furniture, lighting, art and sculpture. These are all personally sourced by Graeme and Alex on their travels from companies which share the same values, using traditional techniques and natural materials to create special products that stand out from the crowd. All of this can be enjoyed over drinks or lunch in the brand’s popular courtyard Saddlery Café, which had a fabulous Wwoo outdoor kitchen installed in summer 2017.
FLAGSHIP STORE
The brand’s London flagship store opened in 2014 at 27 Regent Street St James's in a Grade II listed two storey building owned by The Crown Estate. Formerly home to a bank, the store interior was designed by Graeme and Alex, working with a team of local British craftsmen to re-energise the space in a spirit true to the building itself.
As a family-owned business, Graeme and Alex were particularly keen to create a welcoming and personal space to showcase the OSPREY LONDON lifestyle as much as the products themselves. As such, the ground floor is designed as our place in town while the feel of the lower ground floor is very much our place in the country – a concept which is reflected as much in the materials used on each floor as in the merchandise itself. The lower ground floor is also home to the Saddlery Café serving drinks, light lunches and afternoon tea in the intimate and stylish surroundings of the vaults.
OUTLET STORES
Inspired by the development of the outlet sector in the USA, the first OSPREY LONDON outlet store opened at York Designer Outlet in 2009. "I was convinced that the right product in a beautiful store with great service at outlet prices was going to be a winner," Graeme said. In 2010 OSPREY LONDON was awarded best newcomer in the industry ORDA Awards and now has a total of sixteen UK outlet stores with further plans to expand overseas.